2025 Julien Schaal - Riesling Schoenenbourg Grand Cru (750ml)

Julien Schaal and his wife Sophie make wine in two hemispheres. Julien first went to South Africa as a young intern in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and bottled his first Cape wines there in 2005. In 2011 he started a separate project at home in Alsace devoted entirely to Grand Cru Riesling. He works with growers on top sites across the region, often without owning the vines himself, so each wine can show its particular terroir. The couple now live and make wine in the village of Hunawihr.

This Riesling comes from the Schoenenbourg, one of Alsace’s most storied Grand Cru vineyards, on the slopes just above Riquewihr. Voltaire himself praised its wines. The site’s Keuper marl soils are threaded with gypsum, which gives this bottling its cuvée name, “Gypse,” and tends to produce powerful, layered and long-lived Riesling. The grapes are picked by hand and pressed as whole clusters. They ferment spontaneously with native yeasts, and the wine is aged in steel to keep its freshness and aromatic purity.

The 2025 has a pure, mineral nose of lime blossom, white peach and flint, with a delicate floral lift. The palate is precise and full-bodied, with vibrant tension, citrus zest and a long, savory finish. It pairs well with lake fish, spiced fish tagine or Comté.